5 key factors for sucessful programmatic display advertising

Avoid pitfalls, prepare yourself.

5 key factors for successful Programmatic Display Advertising

5 Key Factors for successful Programmatic Display Advertising

Because a (very) large part of the worlds’ population is surfing the web and visiting apps, the sheer reach/availability - the marketing-discipline; Programmatic Display Advertising offers – is unmatched/unique. If somebody visits a website or opens/uses an app, in most cases an ad can be served. Why? Because about 80-85% (estimates vary) of websites and apps earn money because they allow ads. With that, essentially, the same model of revenue is active today - as has been around for ages. How did the first newspapers (1605) earn money? Exactly; by allowing ads/commercial messages. The Programmatic Display Advertising ecosystem is based on this very simple model. There is a difference however. Instead of having to contact a website or app (publishers) manually to agree on the placement/cost of an ad; a Demand Side Platform can serve ads in thousands of different websites and apps – programmatically/automatically (in a matter of seconds). In this piece we describe this incredible marketing-discipline and offer 5 Key Factors for successful Programmatic Display Advertising.

1. Reach out to a Demand Side Platform (DSP) and make sure this DSP offers the following main abilities:

   1. The DSP has an internally build bidder. A bidder, which can be based on an algorithm - is a very important part of a Demand Side Platform. Essentially, a bidder is the gateway between bidding on adrequests and actually serving ads if this adrequest matches the available bidrequests. Find these links to learn about the difference between an adrequest and a bidrequest. Simply put: using a third-party (externally build) bidder can increase the (buying) cost of your campaign. An internally build bidder means no additional (pricing) layers between you – as the advertiser – and the market. Hence an internally build bidder is a must.

   2. The DSP has a strong, capable GEO-fencing tool. Being that most (Mobile) Display Advertising campaigns are configured to serve ads on multiple/specific locations (country, city or hyperlocal), a GEO-tool that offers options like; setting up very small geo-fences and serving on thousands of addresses/locations (case study), reporting per geo-fence/location or have the ability to bid as high as needed for every GEO-fence (case study) individually – are necessities for successful Programmatic Display Advertising.

   3. The DSP is connected to (or; integrated with) at least 20 to 25 adexchanges. The more adexchanges the better. Essentially adexchanges have hundreds to thousands of apps and websites in their system/offering. Being that literally every little thing in the world has an app/site dedicated to it, the more adexchanges a DSP is connected to, means that more specific sites and apps can be reached (which can be beneficial for reaching your very specific, but desired, audience). Also, the more available inventory, the bigger the chance of hitting your ‘sweet-spot’ in terms of finding that specific publisher which realized great results or conversions (whatever your product may be).

2. Only serve professionally designed ads/banners, deploy a professional landing-page, use rich media banners and use the cheapest hosting options that are available

   • It’s highly recommended to only serve ads/banners that have been made by a professional. A bad looking banner can have a very negative effect on your campaign and – potentially – your brand.

   • The landingpage must have a similar appearance as the ads/banners. Meaning styling (fonts) and colors must ‘match’ with the ads/banners which are served.

   • Use/serve rich media banners. These advanced ads/banners have visual functions that – in most cases – highly affect your campaign results in a positive way.

   • If you are going to deploy rich media ads in your campaign, make sure these are hosted with a ‘cheap’ hostingprovider. Many tools – for creating rich media banners – exist, but these usually charge a significant CPM on-top of your normal rates. If you host your rich media creatives in the right tool, the pricing changes drastically (for the better). Essentially making sure that most of your campaign-budget actually goes to the market/to publishers. 

   • Many Demand Side Platforms also offer in-house creative services. Play your cards right, negotiate and you might get your banners (even rich media) for free (based on a substantial campaign budget).

3. Only use a DSP that offers full transparency

   • The days of receiving simplistic reports (f.e. excel) after your campaign is finished – are over. You want to be able to see the entire campaign set-up, the (live) results and changes (or; optimizations) that are made. Usually a self-serve access provides this kind of transparency. If your campaign experience is little we advise you to request self-serve access but ask for the DSP’s Ad-Oprations team to ‘manage’ your campaigns for you. This way, you have best of both worlds.

   • You can also consider using your own tracking tool/platform. Many exist, pricing varies. This independent tracking/reporting tool will give you peace of mind in terms of; the impressions and clicks that are realized by the DSP – are correct/real (or not!).

4. Use a DSP that offers secondary tools – outside of the normal scope of functions a DSP offers

   • Brand Safety tools are a necessity. Essentially pre-bid Brand Safety solutions/tools make sure your ads/banners are served in qualitative apps and sites. They avoid your ad being served on sites and apps that might damage the image of your brand.

   • Footfall Attribution methods to determine physical store visits from people (or devices) that have been served an ad/banner. Logically this is only relevant for brands/companies who have physical store locations.

   • The DSP should be able to offer the full spectrum of targeting options that are legal and apparent in this industry. This includes make/model targeting, language targeting, retargeting and carrier targeting. If you want to run campaigns in the EU, make sure the DSP/vendor you are using is compliant with GDPR guidelines.

   • It is very likely that you – as an agency, a marketeer or brand owner – will like the results of Programmatic Display campaigns. A whitelabel DSP is essentially a copy of an original DSP and it can be provided in the colors, with the logo and a login interface based on your desires. You might want to offer your clients separate accounts (in case you are an agency)? You might want your internal trading team to have a platform that is fully customized to your needs and wishes (in case you are a trading desk or an actual brand – and you want to internalize programmatic advertising).

5. Use a vendor/DSP that has experience and willing to share knowledge

This might be difficult to determine (‘does the DSP I’m working with has a lot of campaign-experience?’), but is very important you work with a party that knows what they are doing and is willing to educate you along the process/deployment of your campaigns. Even though – essentially – this whole industry just evolves around serving ads/banners between online content (for example; news-content), the industry, the possibilities and pitfalls are complex by nature. So how do you determine the DSP you use (or want to use) has sufficient experience and knowledge AND is willing to share this with you?

• Again; full transparency in terms of campaign set-up, pricing and live results/analytics are things to base your search on – regarding finding the perfect DSP provider.

• Ask if you can test the platform and if a refund is possible (when pre-pay is asked for) – in case you are not happy with the quality of the provided traffic.

• Ask what Brand Safety measures are taken if you would deploy campaigns within the DSP of your choice.

• Ask if backend reports of – for example – device id’s (encrypted or raw) can be provided during and after the campaign. Device id’s are the digital signature that every phone has and providing these backends makes it very hard for a DSP/Vendor to hide elements that might negatively surprise you.

• Ask if you can get a publisher report. Thus you will be able to see on which exact apps and sites your ads are being served.

• Ask if the DSP that interests you has experience with the high bounce-rate mobile traffic usually provides and knows how to decrease this metric (bounce-rate). Similarly, ask if there is experience with optimizing on landing-rate.

• Request case studies.

• Ask for trading references.

• Last; go with your guts. If you don’t feel comfortable with the company (or representative of this company) – stop your activity with them. In the end; your guts might be the most valuable ‘protection’ you can provide for yourself. There are sufficient DSP’s/Vendors out there, feel comfortable with that fact.

Footfall Attribution methods - by Targetoo

Footfall Attribution measurement tools are hot, but relying on installed SDK’s means that measuring Footfall - in many countries/geo’s - is not possible. Or is it?

Footfall Attribution reporting without relying on SDK’s

In this blogpost we describe how it’s possible to measure footfall in countries where little to none installed SDK’s (of third party data providers) are present.

Let’s take a step back. Footfall Attribution relates to measuring the physical effect of (any) campaign - in the form of actual/physical store visits. As you would figure, Footfall Attribution campaigns are mostly (and only) relevant for companies with physical stores/shops.

Normally, to prove Footfall Attribution, a third party data provider is scaled up. A third party data provider has their - or their associates’/partners’ - Software Development Kit (SDK) installed in many applications (apps). This allows these third party data providers to track the location of a device. The problem is that in many countries little to none popular apps have an SDK installed in them. Making - proving - Footfall Attribution not possible. Not to even mention the GDPR deployed/activated in Europe (some third party data providers no longer offer Footfall Attribution in the EU because of this). We have found a way - however - to prove footfall attribution in countries where little to none installed SDK’s are apparent, relying and using the sheer volume we are able scale up - based on the many adexchange integrations we have. Not to mention the fact that this solution is not in conflict with the GDPR - which is active in Europe.

Footfall Attribution by Targetoo
We have tested this technique/solution in several countries as to date. For starters we launch a ‘normal’ campaign. Either targeted nationwide (whatever country it may be) or deploying significant GEO-Fences in the area’s around the shops of the advertisers/client in question. We make sure that these main GEO-fences do not cover the actual location of the physical shops - applying a ‘safe’ margin of 250 meters around every location/shop. We then launch small GEO-fences on the exact location of the physical stores/shops of the advertiser in question. At that point the fun starts: we export the device id’s which have been served a banner within the normal line. After a few days, we then export the device id’s which have been served a banner, within the small GEO-fences (located on/above the physical shops). At that point we simply analyze if there has been served a banner within the small GEO-Fences, which prior has been served a banner within the main/normal campaign. And with that; proving Footfall. And for all the doubters/non-believers out there; this technique actually works!

Disclaimer; we were skeptical - when testing this technique - to say the least. As any expert can tell you; an (in-app) impression has to be served in order for us to register the position/location of a device. This means that the user/consumer needs to open an app while being in the store. This is very different from an installed SDK sending the location of a device. In most cases, the user/consumer doesn’t even need to open the app. The SDK forwards the location solely based on the fact that the app is present/installed on the device in question. But again; in many countries there are not sufficient SDK’s installed to make a proper Footfall analysis. Not to mention the privacy issues this method brings to the table. All in all, a proper GEO-Fencing tool and old-school analyzing - can be the deciding factors for you to determine Footfall for your brand or client.

Reach out if you want to learn more about this technique and/or want to test it for your brand/client.

Kremlin campaign update

Which phone brands are most popular in the Kremlin?

Let’s be really clear and mention an actual disclaimer first: we are only able to see which phone brands are active within the Kremlin - based on an impression (ad/banner) being served.

If a device does not visit an app, and gets an impression served, we can not detect anything. Being that it’s likely high government officials use encrypted, highly protected phones, the results below are - in a way - rubbish. Nevertheless fascinating.

Kremlin campaign

Ok, here we go; based on 2231 impressions served, 31 clicks (CTR: 1,39%) the following top 5 mobile device brands - used in the Kremlin - that are accessing the internet - are:

1. LG

2. Apple

3. Samsung

4. Xiaomi

5. Motorola

LG, who would have expected that?

So how does this work and how can we detect this? When an app is opened/visited (in this case in the Kremlin) an adrequest is being fired. If that adrequest ‘matches’ or ‘corresponds’ with the campaign set-up from our side; an impression (ad) can be served. In this case the campaign setting is:

• A geo-fence of 270 meters ‘above’ the Kremlin

• A very high bid (which we keep to ourselves)

• No pacing, no frequency caps.

• An activation of Run Of Network (RON) - meaning that whatever app is being visited; if it allows ads and the device transports latitude and longitude of the actual Kremlin location, - within the adrequest; its likely we will ‘win’ the bid (and serve a banner with that).

So, here you have it. Reach out if you want to learn more about this non-conclusive yet fascinating campaign technology.

Random example of Make/Brand reporting section

Case Study: Deploying a whitelist on OpenRTB in 2019

Here is why it’s extremely difficult to get traction. But, if you do - CTR’s above 40% - can be achieved.

We all have them; clients/advertisers that just want to serve ads on a specific whitelist. And right they are. Many reasons exist to only serve ads on a specific whitelist. The biggest ones? Brand Safety, reaching a very specific audience and distrust in actual Brand Safety tools. The latter because Brand Safety tools – for example - claim they will protect your brand/offer from being served on low quality publishers. Any expert knows that – if you want volume (regarding your campaign) – such a statement is unrealistic.

Let’s take a step back. Because literally every hobby, every activity or every interest has a publisher dedicated to it. This creates interesting possibilities. For starters you would image it’s possible to serve just on publishers (sites/apps) that have your exact target-audience as an …. audience.

Examples:

You are a horse food supplier. You want to serve ads in the about 30-70 publishers that are dedicated to horse-riding. Technically possible.

• On a side note; serving ads ‘on/above’ the exact locations of actual horse stables is also a possibility.

Case Study: deploying a whitelist on OpenRTB anno 2019

You sell kite-surfing gear. You want to serve ads in the 25 to 45 publishers that are dedicated to kite-surfing. Technically possible. Not to mention publishers that report on wind conditions (like; Windfinder).

You are a driving instructor and want to serve ads in the 15 to 20 publishers that exist to help people learn driving. Technically possible.

You have a premium travel agency that specializes in high-end holidays in India. You want to serve ads in quality publishers that are about traveling. Also, you want to serve ads in quality news publishers (that have their own travel section. For example: cnn.com/travel) and have a ‘rich’, travel minded audience. Here is where it gets interesting.

Our pleasant client Kamalan Travel wanted us to serve this ad:

Within these publishers:

CNN
BBC
Der Zeit
Forbes
Wired.com
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/
TheGuardian
Volkskrant
Independant.co.uk
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/
Newyorktimes
Huffingtonpost
Vogue
https://www.dezeen.com/architecture/
New Yorker
Aeon
The Atlantic
Robb Report
Travel & Leisure
CNTraveller
Afar  
Outside
Suitcase
Atlas Obscura
https://www.wallpaper.com/
http://yacht-premiere.com/
https://www.departures.com/
https://centurion-magazine.com/ 
https://www.elitetraveler.com/
https://www.holiday-paris.fr/magazine.php
https://monocle.com/
https://www.dezeen.com/
https://qz.com/quartzy/ 

Here is what happened:

• We started bidding at $ 21 (Dynamic) CPM – knowing that there are likely others with the same idea and there will be others bidding at/on the same inventory (a bid of $ 21 is reasonably high).

  • No traction

• We increased the bid to $ 44

  • No traction

• Increased bid to $ 111

  • No traction

• Increased bid to $ 241

  • No traction

• Increased bit to $ 900

  • No traction

You know where this is going. In the end we got traction at a bid of $ 5002 and achieved a CPM of $ 3349. Logically we applied a daily spend cap – so the client doesn’t go bankrupt. Here is something amazing we witnessed; right now, after having the campaign live for about 40 days, we have a combined CTR of 45,6% (some days this peaked to 66,67%).

What does all this tell us?

Well, first of all – the competition regarding serving in ‘quality’ publishers is constant, persistent and heavy in 2019. Secondarily; - and this something many industry leaders know – if you want to actually win millions of impressions (which is nothing in terms of buying Programmatic) – there is no way around Ron Of Network (or; RON). Essentially you could say that all substantial campaigns are relying heavily on RON. In other words; it’s possible your brand/offer will be served within ‘shit’ publishers. So what do many consider ‘shit’ publishers:

• Cleanmaster

• Flashlight-Pro

• Grindr (gay dating app)

As mentioned in a previous blogpost; these publishers are unbelievably popular when it comes down to sheer number of ad requests they fire. In other words; availability within these publishers is huge.

Rather interestingly, this client insisted on just serving within this specific whitelist. The CTR’s achieved are beyond believe. Campaign is ‘always-on’ and we will inform you of the progress (and; actual amount of inquires/conversions) of this campaign from time to time.

Getting Relevant Ads served after a chat conversation?

It's here and it's real. For years this has been a hot topic. In this blog we explain how it works.

You are chatting with some friend, you mention you want to get a pizza. You start surfing the web and next you know it, an ad for Pizza’s pups up.

Getting relevant ads served after a chat conversation?

The technique is a form of contextual targeting. The technique came to life in the early days of Programmatic Advertising but at that time was only applicable for display advertising. A consumer visits a certain page or app, and ad-request is fired and within this adrequest the content of that specific page or app is present. Then, a campaign set-up based on contextual targeting will notice a ‘match’ in the content of the site/app and the content (text) that the advertiser wants to target and an ad is served. This all taking place in mere milliseconds.

Now let’s say you are chatting in WhatsApp (owned by Facebook). You mention you want a pizza. You then open your Facebook timeline and an ad is served showing an ad for the nearest Pizza restaurant. Scary right? Well, it’s reality. Especially the fact that Google, Facebook but also Amazon own multiple widely used internet applications, this creepy form of targeting is present today. Again; it’s based on a reasonably long existing form of contextual targeting. There are even speculations and rumors microphones of phones transfer data and ads can be served based on the content of that phone call. Until now f.e. Facebook has strongly denied these claims.

Whats interesting to mention is that - when studying the entire ecosystem in which this takes place - it’s notably becoming more accepted. Yesterday an Amazon spokesperson admitted a small team of Amazon employees is listening to what Alexa hears. You might even know a person that admitted; ‘I don’t care that(f.e.) Google/Amazon is listening; got nothing to hide’.

This - ladies and gentleman - is acceptance by the masses and with that; the future of advertising. We are not sure we like it.

Why not? Geo-fence above The Kremlin!

What publishers are visited by (Russian) people while residing in the Kremlin? Witch phone brands are popular in the Kremlin? Will we finally be arrested (Spetsnaz)? Let’s find out!

Kremlin campaign

While we are still serving banners in The White House (USA), we have deployed a GEO-Fence on/above the Kremlin. Some interesting questions arise.

The Russian internet infrastructure is different in many ways - when compared to the ‘internet’ present in Europe and The United States; first of all Google has a significant less footprint in Russia. Little people speak English. Likewise little Europeans and Americans speak Russian. Thus; Russia - in some ways - has a guarded, hard to penetrate and nationally orientated - online ecosystem.

Strangely though; mere thousands of typical Russian publishers (apps and sites) are integrated with Europa and America based adexchanges. So, in theory we can serve on them. Furthermore - when forecasting - we do see availability on apps that have a native English language present in them; but are relevant for people around the world. Also, in Russia. Think of phone-cleaning apps , translate apps, weather apps.

So:
What publishers are visited by people residing in the Kremlin?
Will we get traction on typical (or; traditional) Russian apps?
What phone models/brands are popular in the Kremlin?

The list goes on..

Next week we will share the first results as well as the actual banner we are serving. It’s a special one.

Oh, and our (significant) amount of content/tools/info (www.targetoo.com) is now also available in Russian!
За успех!

WHITE HOUSE campaign update 28-03-2019

CTR of 10,73%, device id’s gathered, still not arrested nor raided by Seal Team Six

Breitbart, CNN, FOX News, Huffington Post but also ‘Daily Work-Out’, ‘All Languages Translator’ and ‘Cleanmaster’ are pubs being ‘visited’ by devices (people) residing in The White House. The news related publishers makes sense, the less qualitative publishers do not. It’s fair to say that these less qualitative publishers still undermine the apparent strength of hyperlocal programmatic advertising.

The incredibly high CTR is - frankly - astonishing. It has dropped from 16+%, however still at least 10-12 times higher than industry benchmarks. The targeting in combination with the relevant banner is responsible for most of this.

Because the winrate is still relatively low, we have increased the bid (again) to $ 8001. Logically we have set-up a daily cap on spend as we don’t want to go bankrupt. A new update in a week!

Want to learn more about hyperlocal Programmatic Advertising? Click here and here.

Whatsapp Advertising to become available in July 2019

The Grapevine speaks - WhatsApp Advertising to become available July 2019

Don’t ask us how, but we are reasonably sure WhatsApp Advertising (status tab) will become a reality in July 2019.

Advertising in the status tab (not te be confused with Facebooks’ offering of WhatsApp logo/button/connection in Facebook Ads) will be possible through either Facebook Ads Manager, a dedicated platform for WhatsApp or a new/revised platform that offers both (Facebook and WhatsApp advertising).

If our prediction turns out to be faulty, we will post a video - here - of an awkward team dance.

TARGETOO listed in top 10 martech companies in EU

Somehow we have been listed by CIO Applications Europe as one of 10 MARTECH companies in Europe that ‘are at the forefront of providing MARTECH solutions and transforming businesses’.

But really, it isn’t us. It’s Programmatic (Mobile) Advertising that’s on the forefront of changing the MARTECH industry. Even though display advertising is just one of many online marketing tools available; the sheer scale of available inventory is unmatched. Why? Because practically the whole world is on their mobile phone - all day, every day.

Thank you CIO, to the future!

UPDATE: WHITEHOUSE CAMPAIGN

Impressions served: 2867, clicks: 18. Did we get traction on a gay dating app? Which app got the most traction? Have we been arrested?

After days of analyzing and tweaking/adjusting here is what we found:

First of all; analyzing our front door learned us that we haven’t been arrested nor raided by Seal Team Six. We are quite happy and relieved about that.

When launching the campaign we scaled up all adexchanges - which is a normal procedure. As mentioned before we are only serving in apps due to the GPS coordinates that the latter provide in an adrequest. Mobile-Web (still) doesn’t. We implemented a bid CPM of $ 1501. Rather quickly we got traction. Like any expert will tell you; when launching a hyper-locally targeted campaign; the first publishers (in this case; apps) you will get traction in, aren’t the most qualitative. Which was definitely the case. Tagged, 360 Security, Rock My Run, Colorfy - to name just a few - aren’t the apps that the President and his team might be visiting (we hope). Oddly enough Whisper seems to be very popular in The White House. And yes, somebody in The White House is using Grindr (which we don’t have a problem with at all). CTR was average at best (shifting between 0,43 and 0,61%). Rather strangely, we witnessed no visits of apps like; CNN, FOX News, ABC, Huffington Post and Breitbart. These are publishers that you would expect a President and his team might visit. Especially with the apparent obsession of (fake) news of the President himself. Nothing.

Knowing Doubleclick adexchange has pretty much all major news apps/publishers in it’s offering, we set up a subline on this adexchange. We applied a very high bid (which actual bid is not to be disclosed). In a week time we got just 13 impressions on this line. And here it comes; 4 clicks. That’s a CTR of 30,77%. How cool is that?! And yes, Breitbart, FOX News and CNN (!) where publishers in which these 13 impressions occurred.

What can we conclude? The thousands of impressions in ‘shit’ publishers undermines Programmatic Advertising as a product. We can go in technical detail regarding the validity of these impressions, but we won’t. It’s simply not a sign that the technology is working. Again; you would expect impressions coming from major United States news outlets. Not ‘Talking Tom’. There is no way around it.

HOWEVER, when implementing years of experience in the campaign setup, tweaking, we did manage to get 13 impressions and 4 clicks (again; a CTR of % 30,77%) within major US news outlets (apps). Conclusion; when done right, Programmatic (local) Advertising is a heck of a marketingtool.

Serving ads above the White House - will we get arrested?

After the rather special experience of us serving ads above the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona - we have come up with a new campaign idea. It is - however - a tricky one.

Hold on to your seat belts because we just launched a campaign serving ads ‘on/above’ the White House (Washington DC) in the roaring and deeply divided United States of America.

Questions that arise:

• Will we get arrested?

• Will we be raided by Seal Team Six?

• White House invitation perhaps?

No, all fun and games - but there are some very interesting aspects and questions coming along with this campaign:

• At what bid will we get traction (being that it’s very likely others have the same idea - serving ads on/above the White House)?

• What are the publishers (apps and sites) mostly visited by people residing, working or living (!) in the actual White House?

  • Can we make this ‘public’ to our few hundred blog readers?

    • If not; what will happen if we do? Legal advise is welcome.

Below the ads/banners (300x250 & 320x50 - image banners) we will serve and the geo-marker within our geo-tool (radius of geo-fence is set at 240 meters).

We will update you when we have interesting developments to share. If you don’t hear from us again, do start to worry.

If you want to learn more about our global ad serving capabilities and solutions, reach out!

Mobile World Congress campaign finished - results

7149 impressions, 401 clicks, a CTR of 5,61 %, average CPM of $ 1433, number of device id’s collected; 5285. Number of inquires on website; 4. The average win-rate was 39,73%.

What do these numbers tell us?

First of all; 7149 won impressions on an event like the MWC is peanuts. Very little. Based on the visitor amount, the affinity with mobile of these visitors and the actual scale of the event; we estimate that there where somewhere like a million impressions available/to-be-won. If not more. Then why do we report a winrate of 39,73%? The most logical explanation is that the overall campaign budget was restrictive. How insane is it, looking at the CPM we got traction with and the fact there were probably more than 1 million impressions to be won; that is technically possible to spend over € 150.000 with just 1 Geo-fence above the MWC - in a matter of 3 days.

401 clicks and a CTR of 5,61% (based on a 300x250 banner). Those are awesome stats. Nothing more to it. We served the same banner without geo-targeting (MWC location) in geo; Spain - and achieved a CTR of 0,81%. We can conclude that by serving on/above the MWC location/event; an audience was reached that had a strong affinity with Mobile and Programmatic Advertising. No rocketscience.

4 inquires on our website www.targetoo.com. One specifically mentioning how cool she found it that we managed to serve her our banner while she was attending the MWC. Even so; looking at the campaign spend we were a bit disapointed by this amount. We hope the branding aspect of this campaign was strong and we will - in the end - experience a positive ROI. And; we still have the retargeting campaign to deploy.

What surprised us most; the insanely high CPM to get traction. All in all an entertaining and educational experience.

Reach out to learn more about serving ads on specific events.

Update: Targetoo MWC campaign

Bidding $ 1500 insane? Right now we are at a $ 6000 bid

With a winrate of 39%, it seems somebody is still outbidding us regarding serving ads on the Mobile World Congress. Based on a dynamic CPM algorithm, we managed to get traction at $ 1149 CPM. How insane is that?

This means that the market values impressions on/at the location - based on a normal 300x250 image banner (seen below) - of the MWC at $ 1149 CPM. We repeat; $ 1149! So far we won 2049 impressions, achieved 71 clicks (CTR = 3,46% !) and received 4 inquires. Not bad, not bad at all.

What does this extreme pricing tell us? Well, for starters a clear indication of GEO-Targeting - based on Programmatic Mobile Advertising - becoming a more popular marketing tool by every day that passes. We estimate that about 80-110 Demand Side Platforms are trying to get serious traction on the MWC event. Friday we will share a new update!

Want to know what GEO Targeting can do for your company/brand? Reach out!

Targetoo NOT attending MWC

Targetoo NOT attending MWC - However serving ads on MWC location with a $ 1500 bid – Representative present in Barcelona

Yield, Populate, Holistic, 360, Smart data, Fully GDPR Compliant – just some of the terminology you will hear in great abundance – if visiting the Mobile World Congress. 

Don’t get us wrong; we love the MWC. We have attended for years. There comes a time – however – where you want technology to do the speaking. That’s why we will we be serving Targetoo ads on the location of the MWC – with a $ 1500 (or higher) bid. Hoping we outbid the hundreds (if not thousands) who have the same idea. Having an unlimited/open/uncapped bid option will help. Secondarily we will catch device id’s and set-up a retargeting line (to be active outside of Europe – due to the GDPR). When the event is over (28-02) we will inform our readers and newsletter database with the results.

The banner we will be serving:

If you want to meet one of our representatives in Barcelona, you can do so by reaching out😊 - If you are visiting the MWC we hope you have a terrific time. Secret restaurant recommendation: El Celler, Olesa de Bonesvalls (20 minutes outside of Barcelona).

16%+ CTR!! - Internal Targetoo campaign - Dynamic banner - Update

In one of recent blog posts we explained the Location Based campaign we are running for our own brand; Targetoo. After weeks of tweaking we are happy to announce that we are achieving a daily CTR of 15% or more. Frankly; a CTR we never witnessed before. Check the original blog post here.

As explained we are serving ‘above’ 2500 locations (or; addresses) of media agencies based in the Netherlands. We are serving a dynamic banner that - depending on the location it is being served - shows the actual name of the agency IN the banner (and changes depending the location it’s being served).

Again; the banner we are serving:

• GEO-fences are set at 50 meters

• We are only targeting GPS traffic (in-app)

• Bid is $ 300

Although we are achieving about 600 impressions a day, we have already received several inquires. We highly recommend this campaign strategy/set-up. It can be deployed for many campaign goals. Reach out for more info and discuss how this campaign technique can benefit your - or your clients’ - brand.

new footfall insights report available

Using the technology of our integrated partner adsquare, we have been able to develop an insights report based on actual campaigns where the goal was/is to prove footfall.

Footfall Attribution seeks to prove and determine the actual effect (in the form of store revenue and store visitors) of a programmatic advertising campaign. Although a hot-topic for marketeers; especially marketeers who work for a brand with physical stores - many still find it hard to successfully deploy and use the technology.

In this insights report we show which approach should be upheld and we explain how the technology should be implemented/deployed. Request it here if interested.

Case study internal Targetoo campaign - Targeting 2500 office locations of media agencies in NL

First of all; happy new year! We hope you enjoyed the holidays, Christmas and New Years Eve (without losing body parts). May the programmatic new year (2019) be good for us all.

We would like to share with you an internal campaign we recently activated. From our partner Data Collectief (www.datacollectief.nl) we bought an address list of 2500 media-agencies - active in the Netherlands. We populated the file with latitude and longitude coordinates. We then created this dynamic banner:

We (automatically) set-up 2500 geo-fences of 70 meters ‘above’ these 2500 office locations. Depending on the location where the ad is served; the correct company name (below ‘HOI’) appears in the ad (dynamically). Being that many of these media agencies are present in our newsletter database; if you see the banner, make a screenshot and in return we will give you € 100 free campaign budget. Spend on whatever campaign you like.

Reach out if you want to learn if a similar campaign (targeting thousands of addresses/locations) can help you and/or your clients.

What was 2018 about regarding Programmatic Advertising?

The year 2018 was about the GDPR, ads.txt, viewability and brand safety. What do these industry changes and updates tell us?

It’s fair to conclude that the Programmatic Advertising industry is materializing into a solid and safe marketing discipline. The introduction of the GDPR and the expanding presence of the ads.txt protocol is good for all involved; from supply to demand, from advertiser to end-user/consumer; these changes signal a more adult, solid and safe Programmatic Advertising landscape. Serving ads in publishers (app or web) is essentially the same as the nearly 300-year-old advertising industry; commercial messages in physical (news)papers. Being that mainly mobile devices are present – and are being owned – by up to a mere 5 billion people on this planet, it’s fair to say Programmatic Advertising (or; advertising in apps and websites) is the biggest marketing discipline currently around. Although disciplines like Search, SEA, E-mail marketing and actual Print are often valuable and strongly present, the sheer scale of Programmatic Advertising is on another level. This is why consolidation, improvement of consumer safety/transparency, Brand Safety, tools like Viewability and overall maturing – of the entire industry – is a good thing.

We wish you great holidays/Christmas and a healthy and abundant 2019

Many thanks to our clients – you! Old and new ones; we value the partnerships we have. We will remain dedicated to deliver strong Programmatic Advertising campaigns in 2019. To our clients - small and big; we wish you a great holiday/Christmas and a healthy and abundant 2019.

Thank you.

Contextual Targeting, Case Study, Free Rich Media

Increased integration with Adsquare

We are happy to announce the integration with Adsquare – which will enable us to do contextual app targeting. The technique has proven itself over a series of test campaigns. We are able to serve your ads in apps that strongly resonate to the content of your ad/offer. By applying certain keywords or selecting categories your ad can be served on devices with owners – likely – to have a strong affiliation with your brand. Reach out for questions and/or campaign requests.

Case Study Geo-fencing

As of now available for free: ‘Geo-fencing – does the technique work?’. In this case study we describe the disadvantages and strengths of the technique, based on actual campaign results and years of experience with the technique. Request if for free.

Free Rich Media in December

Due to the many requests we have received; we have decided to give away free Rich Media creatives in December. You need to convince a client? Want a cool banner for your own campaign? Reach out.

Advertising in Whatsapp will become a reality

Whatsapp wants to start earning big with monetization

Recently, Whatsapp (owned by Facebook) announced that it will start serving ads within the (also new) ‘Status’ feature. Although Whatsapp once promised it’s users that they will ‘never’ start/allow advertisement within the popular chat/communication tool – now they will. It’s very likely that Location Based Advertising (as a targeting option) will also come to life. This means that business can reach their audiences on a local scale. Furthermore it’s also likely Whatsapp will either include the option within Facebooks’ Ads Manager (essentially a DSP just exclusively trading/selling Facebook inventory), or launch a standalone platform (f.e. Whatsapp Ads Manager). Either way; the pricing in regards to results (on- and offline; branding, store traffic and conversions) will be a deciding factor regarding it’s success.

The recently introduced and popular status function gives users the option to share a (combination of) video, text or audio message. These ‘status updates’ disappear after 24 hours. Until now, it’s unknown what options will become available for advertisers. We will keep you updated.